electoralregisters.org.uk

Welcome to the electoralregisters.org.uk site ...information about the electoral registers,
electoral rolls, poll books from 1700 to the present day, how to access the registers online,
how to make the most from your searches, what is available and not available, and much, much, more.

Poll Books

Poll Books list who voted at elections and who they voted for. The earliest ones
are from around 1700 and they continued until 1872 when the secret ballot was introduced. While all poll
books record the name of the voter, some also record other information such as occupation and/or address.

The order of names also vary,
sometimes by address, sometimes by name, sometimes by the order in which their vote was cast, and of course since
they are a record of votes cast, some do not include the name of those, while eligible to vote,
did not in fact cast their vote. Other do list separately those who did not vote.